“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends to the earth.”
Isaiah 49:6
It sometimes amazes me to think of how big our God is.
I know that He wants to use me, to work through me, and perhaps sometimes I allow that to limit Him. If God were to work through me, then maybe God can be no bigger than me. When God works through you, maybe He is limited to how big you are.
But then this verse changes that. God is speaking to Isaiah, and in verse 5, it says, “And now the Lord says – He who formed me in the womb to be his servant to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to himself…” Isaiah knew God formed him in the womb, he was destined since birth, he was born for this – to bring the nation of Israel back to God.
To me, that sounds like a big thing. How can just one man turn an entire nation? I’m sure Isaiah thought it to be a big thing. But then, here in verse 6, we see what God thinks. “It is too small a thing…” God wasn’t limited by Isaiah.
It wasn’t enough for Isaiah to be God’s servant. It’s wasn’t enough to bring back the entire tribe of Jacob. It wasn’t even enough restore the entire nation of Israel. God was way bigger and way more powerful than Isaiah. And for God, the entire world was always the plan. That through Isaiah, Israel would become a light for the Gentiles, that salvation might come to the ends of the earth.
As Christian’s today, we have a similar mission, to go and “make disciples of all nations, baptizing tem in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). To be Jesus’ “witnesses in Jerusalem, and all in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
Before you start thinking that’s too big a thing, remember Isaiah. And remember how big God is. And remember that God is not limited by you. Rather, through you, He can do amazingly big things.
